538 STERILE SOILS UNACCEPTABLE TO PLANTS. 



in a red soil, which Professor Edward Solly found to be chiefly 

 remarkable for an unusually large proportion of oxide of iron. 

 (Journ. ofHort. Soc. i. 126.) 



On the other hand we know that salt plants, like Nitraria, will 

 not thrive in the absence of the salt soil in which they naturally 

 grow; and that others, such as Samphire, the garden Pink, 

 the Eed Valerian, the Sea Beet, are much improved in health 

 by its presence, to say nothing of Salicornias, and other purely 

 salt plants, which wiU not grow in saltless land. Chalk also 

 appears to be fatal to the healthy growth of others, such as 

 Rhododendrons, and some Conifers; while Beech and Box 

 prefer it. Clay again, which is invaluable as a soil for Quercus 

 pedunculata, is ill suited to Q. sessiliflora, and will not grow 

 Heaths at aU. Therefore the opinion that the soil which 

 plants inhabit when wild is not necessary to them, requires a 

 good deal of qualification. 



In Tike manner plants grow naturally and remain healthy in 

 places where no manure can reach them. But they are not 

 .benefited by the absence of such agents; on the contrary, 

 even Mosses aij^ Lichens flourish most where they are best 

 fed, and plants inhabiting peat, sterile as that soil is, feed 

 greedily and thrive greatly when well manured. Of this a 

 striking instance is furnished by Bagshot heath. 



A more unpromising appearance than that originally belonging to 

 the present American nursery at Bagshot, can scarcely he imagined. In 

 its, present improved state, it affords a good example of what can be 

 done in the most sterile spots. The ground in question forms part of 

 50 acres, the whole of which is rated in the poor's-rate book at 81. The 

 soil, which is from 12 to 15 inches in depth, is a black sandy peat, 

 resting upon a clayey subsoil very deficient in vegetable matter, and 

 naturally incapable of producing any crop. With cultivation it has 

 been rendered in the highest degree productive. The first operation 

 was to drain it from 3 J to 4 feet deep ; it was then trenched 2 feet deep, 

 and to every acre so treated, from 30 to 40 tons of good farm-yard 

 manure was added ; and as a precautionary measure, in order to exhaust 

 the rankness attendant upon this treatment, it was deemed necessary to 

 take off the land a root crop of Potatoes, Carrots, Turnips, and Mangel 

 "Wurzel. After this treatment, American plants were found to thrive 

 amazingly ; but, like all crops in very poor soils, they continue to be 

 benefited by the application from time to time of suitable enriching 

 materials. — Standish on American Plants. 



